Rotary engine.



s. comm'. ROTARY ENGINE.

APPEICATION FILED JUNE M1915.

si. CIINKLIN.

ROTARY ENGINE.

I APPLICATION FILED IUNE 4. IsIs.

Patented 0@I.,8,1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Bruce Cdn/riff? I ifforw/ the kind as heretofore suggested.

i s'rnfrns PATENT onirica.

BRUcEcoNxLIN, or wEsri/LINSTER, ENGLAND.

i ROTARY ENGINE. p

To all whomc't may concern.' Y

- Be it knowny that-I, BRUCE CONKLIN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Westminsteniin the county of Middlesex, England,have invented a new and useful Improvement in and Relating to RotaryEngines, of which the following is a specification. j v

My invention has reference to rotary engines of the kind comprising astationary inner drum having a plurality of rotary abutments and anouter rotary casing having a plurality v.of vanes-the annular workingcylinder being formed bythe space between the drum and the casing. Y

AThe primary object I have in'view is to provide an improved engine ofthe aforesaid type which while being simple in construction and positivein operation shall be adapted to be employed asa prime mover actuated bysteamcompressed air or other expansible fluid or used as a compressorpump blower or exhauster.

Among the further objects of the invention are to provide an engine ofthe above mentioned kind in which there shall be an entire absence ofpositively actuated valve Amechanism' for the distribution of theworking fluidto providev improved means for lubricating the parts andgenerally to proyduce an engine which shall `be more efficient for-theends in viewfthan` devices of With the aforementioned vand other objectsin view as may hereinafter appear or are incidentaltheretofthe presentinvention in its broadest `aspect maybe said to` contemplate ,within thescopeof the appended claims a construction of the aforesaid kind inVWhichl the inner stationary drumserves as ra steam chest 0r working uidchambersaid working fluid ybeing ,distributed through ports in theperiphery thereof to ports Y in the outer` rotating casing whence itisconductedby suitable passages'in said casing to the annular chamber todrive the vanes the exhaustjof the fluid being effected throughports inthe drum communieating with the exhaust passages therein.

yBy this feature of my invention considerable economies result due.to-alessenmgof the usual condensation diflculties.

A further feature of `myinvention is that `in normal running the portscommunicatr'ing with maintain the expansion chamber ,Y Valways theirlike character thus an inlet specification of Letters Patent.

port for the working fluid alwaysremains an inlet port and` an exhaustport always remains an exhaust port. The advantage of this constructionin the case when steam is theworking iuid is manifest as the possibilityfor condensation is reduced to av Patented Oct. 8, 1918.

. Application lcd June 4, 1915. Serial No. 32,177. Y f

same fully for which purpose reference is to be had to the accompanyingdrawings in which VFigure 1 is a sectional View of a rotary engineembodying my improvements taken .substantially on the line a-a of Fig.3.

Y Fig. 2 is a section-but drawn to a smaller scale-taken along the lineb-b of Fig.1 illustrating the arrangement vofthe induction ports to theexpansion chamber from the stationary drum. Y. ,y f

Fig. 3 is a section-also on a smaller scale-taken along the line c-c` ofFig. `1

illustrating more especially the arrange-y y ment of the vanes, portsments. l Fig. 4 is a section-*on asmaller scalealong the line cZ-Z ofFig. 1 illustrating the arrangement of the exhaust passages.L

and the rotary abut VFig. 5'is aldetail view ofthe 'packing-` y ringshereinafter described and Vthe means for Vadjusting same. Y, y y l vReferring now to Figs. 1 and 2 the working fluid is. normally made toenter aholl',

low druml by means of a tubular shaft 2 .supported rigidly at one end by-means of the end bearingk 3 and'on they other endfis made to nest bymeans of the roller bearings 4 within `a rotating casing 5 journaled atonefend by means of roller bearings k6 on an end bearing 7 similar toendbearing 3 :and on the other end of the casingbymeans of Aa, rollerbearing 8-about `thestationaryA A10 ofthe casing (Figs. 1 and ,2)fwhen,these Ilatter ports arein register vas will. happen in,

entering the lhollow shafty .2 i

the course of the rotation of the casing 5 with respect to thestationary drum 1y. The

fluid then passes by way of the elongatedV port 11 in the casing to theeXpansionlor working chamber 111 determined by theretating .vane v12kthe rotary abutment13 the "stationary drum 1` andthe inner wall of therotatin casing 5. The expansion of the fluid within the chamber 111 willcontinue till y'the vane 12 reaches and passes within the pocket 14C inthe -rotary abutment 131 when the position of theparts will be as shownby the vane 1211 in the pocket of the rotary abutment 131 inv Fig. 3.The proper timing of the rotary abutments with respect to the vanes isobtained by means of the.v gear 15L (Fig. 1) :attached tothe rotatingcasing 5 engaging with a spur 16 which in turn `engages with a gear 17keyed to the :shaftof each of the lrotary* abutments.l

When therotary vane 12 reaches thefposition indicated at 1211 in'F ig. 3practically i theentire amount of the possible expansion of the fluidentering through the port 11 has taken place in the chamber 111 andduring escribed isrepeated as'each of the vanes successively pass therotary abutments.

In order to avoid any possibilityfof leakage taking place past any ofthe vanes I provide a packing strip 21 (see` Fig. 1) pressed inwardly bysprings 25 which nest within theportion 26 of the vane attached to thecasing 5 by means of thebolts 27.

rOn the other'hand I also provide packing rings 28 29 which arepreferablywsplit as shown and engage with the'surface loffthe stationarydrum 1 to overcomey any 'tendency toward leakage on a lateralkdirectionv tothe face, of the drum. rrlhese packing rings which are inthe nature of :piston rings I preferably hold inplac'e lby means ofwires 3 0 (see Fig. .5) engaging. the rings 28429 circularly which wiresare caused to cross each other neartheir ends andv are led out oftherotating casing l5 into' pockets 31 whereby means of. the nuts andwashers v32 an abutment isformed for *they Asprings 33,*engag1ng withVthe Walls of` kkthe pockets 131 .to hold the rings 28 V29 in tight.engagement withfgthe stationary l"drum 4VBy this construction the ringsl.may be tightened yjto any desired "extent tojcompensate for Awear,direction lby admitting the through'whatare'normallythe-eXhaust--pasder or expansion chamber. It willtherefore f 'be seenthat I have provided by myy inven- "tion a very simple compact andefficient flubricating `system for a 'rotary' engine ,devoidfof any`kind `of reciprocation or variable movement whatever. Moreover fbymeans of the bolts 36 and the fact that I hav-e provided end shields`551 for the rotating casing the assembly and disassembly of the machinecan be undertaken withlthe minimum amount of time and trouble.Furthermore in order to cut down the losses due to windage I provide ashield 37 which gives a smooth and neat appearance to the engine and atthe same time serves to lock in pla-'ce the assemblage of bolts such as26 used to keep the vanes in place. f

The operation of anl engine embodying vmy invention is as follows: Theworking fluid entering the drum '1 communicates with theexpansion'chamberssuch as 111 (see Fig. 3)

behind thevanes 12 1211 12111`in their'respective order Vof sequence and1n advance of the rotary abutinents 13131V 1311. The direction ofrotation of the outer casing Sis inV consequence clockwise as indicated`by the arrows in the several figures. The timing ofthe induction of theworking iiuid corresponds with the relationship vof Jche induction ports10` on therot'atin'g casin'g 5 and the ports 9 on the stationarydrumcoml munication with the internal steam chest space. yTherelationship of these latter-ports is indicated in Fig. 2. Turningnow'to Fig.

3 it willbe seen that whereas thel induction ofthe working fluidalways'occurs 'through' theports 11 behind'therespective vanes theexhaust for the respective expansionchambers behind the vanes alwaysoccurs through the corresponding feXhau'st ports behind the inductionrports feeding such,y expansion' f chambers. Moreover'the exhaust portsare oppositely arranged with regard t'o the eX- pansion chambers. Theexhaust fluid travels parallel and external to the yhollow intake to theusual exhaust pir'e.A v Y Now it Willbe obvioustliat an'sengineconshaft2 to an outlet 23l to theatmosphere Yor i4structed- *as rabovedescribed may be ycaused to `rotate va 4coiunter-'cl'ockwi's-e orreverse werking Huid sages and ports and exhausting through theaforesaid tubular shaft. A signicant fea-- ture of the operation of theengine is that by providing an unequal number of vanes with respect tothe rotary abutments the turning moment is very much evened up. It willbe seen that in the construction herein described the ports in the drumand outer casing are so disposed relatively to each other as to producebetween each two abutments in succession a working stroke or powerimpulse and exhaust of the previous charge and since there are threeabutments and four vanes there will thus be twelve power impulses perrevolution of the rotary casing. By increasing the number of rotaryabutments and vanes any desired number of power 'impulses per revolutionmay be obv tained and it may here be pointed outthat as the surfaces ofthe abutments are in fluid tight contact with the inner smooth surfaceof the rotating casing said abutments will act as rollers to reducefriction and therefore the greater the number of abutments employed thesteadier the engine will run as practically the whole weight of therotating Y parts will be supported upon said abutments.

I may provide means whereby the effect area of the induction and exhaustports in the aforesaid drum may bevaried so that on starting or when theload on the engine is increased the amount of high pressure workingfluid may also be increased.

It' will of course be apparent that with slight modifications the innerdrum may form the rotary element while the outer casing is stationary,in which case the rotary abutments are carried by the outer casing andthe vanes by the drum.

I claim:

1. A rotary engine comprising anormally l stationary drum having aplurality of rotary abutments and an outer rotating casing having aplurality of vanes wherein said drum and casing are provided withinduction and exhaust ports and passages which as they register causethe working fluid to Copies of this patent may be obtained for fivecents each, by addressing' the l Washington, D. C.

chamber of the engine and ports and passages in the outer rotatingcasing for the exhaust of the low pressure fluid. o

3. A rotary engine comprising a normally stationary hollow drum having aplurality of positively rotated abutments and an .outer rotating casinghaving a plurality of vanes, means for introducing the working fluid tothe interior of said hollow drum, ports in the periphery of said drumwhereby said working fluid is distributed to the annular working chamberof the engine and ports and passages in the outer rotating casing forthe exhaust of the low pressure iuid and means for maintaining a liuidtight joint between the moving parts.

l. A rotary 'engine comprising a normally stationary hollow drum havinga plurality of positively rotated abutments and an outer rotating casinghaving a plurality of vanes, means for introducing the working fluid tothe interior of said hollow drum, ports in -means for maintaining afluid tight joint bef tween the moving parts and means for distributinga lubricantl to the rotating parts. l

BRUCE CONKLIN.

Witnesses:

A. E. WHITE, WALTER MGFARIANE.

Commissioner of lpatents,

